Managing Your Career During a Global Pandemic (Sweatpants Optional)

This is certainly an unusual time. We’re all finding our way through an altered reality.  Schedules and routines have been blown up. Travel is curtailed, meetings have moved to video and commutes are nonexistent. No one really knows what the future holds. People are unsettled, wondering what impact the shutdowns will have on their careers – or if they’ll even have a career to return to. This is not to say that the job market is dead. We’re finding that companies are responding to current events in different ways. Some have put all hiring on hold. Others are laying off. Still others are using this time as an opportunity to take advantage of available talent.

As individuals we need to make the most of this time. Pre-global pandemic most of us were so wrapped up in the activities of our day to day lives that we weren’t looking at the big picture of our careers. The stay home orders and business pauses afford us an opportunity for contemplation and preparation for what comes next.

Here are three actions you can take now to position your career for opportunities that arise now and in the future.

Reflect – Are you happy where you are?

When is the last time you actually sat down and assessed your career? A real soul-searching session – not just answering the pro forma interview question, “Where do you want to be in five years?” What really makes you tick? What has you jumping out of bed in the morning and going to sleep at night with the deep satisfaction of a job well done? Many people, including some of the most successful among us, can’t readily answer these questions.  

Here’s an exercise to help clarify your thinking and determine what matters most to you. Start with your current role and look back through your career. Make a list of all the things you really enjoy doing, the things that make you feel successful, challenged, and fulfilled. Take your time. After the initial brain dump, more things will come to you. Give yourself a day or two. At the same time, make a list of the things you really hate to do, would be happy to never do again, or things that wear you down and sap your energy.

This exercise builds a functional foundation from which to evaluate your current role and future opportunities. With this knowledge in hand, you will be able to quickly and objectively score where you are now and which direction to move in. It gets you much closer to a reality that has you doing more of what gets and keeps you engaged. It’s another way to view the question: In a perfect world, what would you really like to do? What are you willing to trade off? (Alas, nothing is perfect.)

Refresh Your Resume

Now that you have a better sense of what you want to be doing, the next step is to position your background and experience in the best way to get there. It’s time to review and refresh your resume. Is your document an accurate reflection of your strengths and aspirations? Have you quantified your accomplishments, specifying where you’ve made money, saved money, or improved a process?

Most people are so busy actually doing their jobs that they forget to document their many accomplishments and contributions. Time for another list. Take a day or two and detail all of your accomplishments, no matter how small.  This forms the source from which you’ll draw specific accomplishments and bullets for the various versions of your resume. This forms a sort of accomplishment database. Chances are, when you’re looking to make your next career move, there could a variation of roles that suit you. With your 'accomplishment database’ at the ready, you can select the best accomplishments from your past to tell the story of how good a fit you are for the specific job you’re going after.

Remember, your resume is essentially a marketing document. Its purpose is to get you in the door (or on a Zoom call) for an interview. It’s not designed to tell your life story. With your accomplishments detailed, you can easily customize your resume with bullets that demonstrate your potential for success in the role you’re pursuing. It’s entirely appropriate to have different versions of your resume highlighting different aspects of your career, provided they’re all accurate.

Reach Out - Build Your Network

Now that you know what sort of job will get you up in the morning, and you have your resume arsenal ready to go, this is an ideal time to nurture your existing network to strengthen relationships, as well as working on expanding your network. We’re all in the same boat - working from home and starting to feel somewhat isolated. The good news is that right now people are more easily reached. They have a bit more time on their hands, and since no one truly knows how or when the world will return to some form of normalcy, we’re all feeling a little nervous about the future and more open to connecting with others.

Who should you connect / reconnect with - in addition to keeping in touch with your customers and coworkers? Certainly, past managers, employees, and peers. You’ve also just gone through an exercise to help you clarify your future career direction. Start reaching out and building relationships with the kinds of people you want in your future. If you’re not sure how to keep the conversation going after you’ve introduced yourself, start by making deposits in the karma bank. Share relevant, interesting articles, comment on and repost interesting content, introduce people who should know each other – in general, give more than you take.

“It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”

We can use this time as a gift to our future selves, or we can fritter it away with anxiety, dread, and Netflix. The choice is ours.

Debbie Harper has been a headhunter for over 25 years. She is founder and President of Harper Hewes, a boutique recruiting firm offering recruitment and executive search solutions, interim executives, outplacement and resume services. For more information, visit: www.harperhewes.com.